DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.806#0102
Presump-
tions in
favour of
pictorial
Antecedent
stages of
Phoenician
letters
supplied by
Minoan
scripts.
Names
seen to
correspond
with origin.
' House'
signs—
beth and
dakth.
88 SCRIPTA MINOA
a similar character should reappear as a common sign in both classes of the Minoan
linear script, at times under the same simplified aspect, but more generally with
a loop on either side indicating the two human ears. We thus very closely
approach the Egyptian 'face' sign hr. In this connexion it is interesting to observe
that in the Iberic alphabets the koph sign is frequently substituted for resh, or
the head seen in profile. There, at least, its significance as 'head' was clearly
recognized.
In the above instances, although no sufficient key to their meaning can be
obtained from the names of the Phoenician letters, the life-history of the parallel
Minoan forms affords a strong presumption in favour of a similar pictorial origin.
About the meaning of some two-thirds of the Semitic letter-names, however,
authorities are generally agreed. According to the over-subtle theory of De Rouge,
indeed, these names do not by themselves afford any real clue to the origin of the
letters. Aleph, for instance, was, on his showing, descended not from an 'ox' but an
' eagle'; pe was not a ' mouth', as its name signifies, but a ' shutter', and the ' tooth'
sign, skin, was derived from an ' inundated garden'. But many even of those who
reject De Rouge's theory still regard the names of the Semitic letters as having
nothing to do with their real origin.
On this important point the Cretan signaries again afford analogies of a most
suggestive kind. For on Cretan soil we can often watch the actual evolution of the
linear from the pictorial form. The fact that we have here not only two classes of
advanced linear scripts, but the earlier hieroglyphic system and still more primitive
line drawings, enables us in many cases to trace back the advanced linear form to
its pictorial source. The derivation is not theoretical, as in the case of the Phoenician
letters, but becomes a matter of ocular demonstration.
If, therefore, Cretan linear signs resembling Phoenician letters go back to
pictorial prototypes which correspond with their Phoenician names, we have some-
thing like a proof that these names afford a real clue to the origin of the letters.
In Table VI {Fig. 42) will be found comparisons of a series of Phoenician or
other Semitic letters, the names of which bear ascertained meanings, with characters
of the Minoan signaries.
It will be seen from this Table that—not to speak of other striking similarities—
coincidences of the kind referred to above are actually found to occur in a succession
of examples. The 'ox-head' sign, for instance, is common in the Minoan hieroglyphic
series, and we see from the Phaestos whorl that it had an alternative linear form
closely corresponding with the Phoenician aleph.
Beth, the 'house', for which we have an interesting sidelight in the South
Semitic form shown in the Table, finds a very close parallel, common to both the Minoan
linear Script A and B. It seems quite possible, moreover, that the actual prototype
of this is to be recognized in the ' storehouse' sign of the Cretan hieroglyphic system:
indeed, before this was known an identical pictorial origin was suggested by my
father. Daleth, the 'door', is also common to the Minoan signaries, but in this case
tions in
favour of
pictorial
Antecedent
stages of
Phoenician
letters
supplied by
Minoan
scripts.
Names
seen to
correspond
with origin.
' House'
signs—
beth and
dakth.
88 SCRIPTA MINOA
a similar character should reappear as a common sign in both classes of the Minoan
linear script, at times under the same simplified aspect, but more generally with
a loop on either side indicating the two human ears. We thus very closely
approach the Egyptian 'face' sign hr. In this connexion it is interesting to observe
that in the Iberic alphabets the koph sign is frequently substituted for resh, or
the head seen in profile. There, at least, its significance as 'head' was clearly
recognized.
In the above instances, although no sufficient key to their meaning can be
obtained from the names of the Phoenician letters, the life-history of the parallel
Minoan forms affords a strong presumption in favour of a similar pictorial origin.
About the meaning of some two-thirds of the Semitic letter-names, however,
authorities are generally agreed. According to the over-subtle theory of De Rouge,
indeed, these names do not by themselves afford any real clue to the origin of the
letters. Aleph, for instance, was, on his showing, descended not from an 'ox' but an
' eagle'; pe was not a ' mouth', as its name signifies, but a ' shutter', and the ' tooth'
sign, skin, was derived from an ' inundated garden'. But many even of those who
reject De Rouge's theory still regard the names of the Semitic letters as having
nothing to do with their real origin.
On this important point the Cretan signaries again afford analogies of a most
suggestive kind. For on Cretan soil we can often watch the actual evolution of the
linear from the pictorial form. The fact that we have here not only two classes of
advanced linear scripts, but the earlier hieroglyphic system and still more primitive
line drawings, enables us in many cases to trace back the advanced linear form to
its pictorial source. The derivation is not theoretical, as in the case of the Phoenician
letters, but becomes a matter of ocular demonstration.
If, therefore, Cretan linear signs resembling Phoenician letters go back to
pictorial prototypes which correspond with their Phoenician names, we have some-
thing like a proof that these names afford a real clue to the origin of the letters.
In Table VI {Fig. 42) will be found comparisons of a series of Phoenician or
other Semitic letters, the names of which bear ascertained meanings, with characters
of the Minoan signaries.
It will be seen from this Table that—not to speak of other striking similarities—
coincidences of the kind referred to above are actually found to occur in a succession
of examples. The 'ox-head' sign, for instance, is common in the Minoan hieroglyphic
series, and we see from the Phaestos whorl that it had an alternative linear form
closely corresponding with the Phoenician aleph.
Beth, the 'house', for which we have an interesting sidelight in the South
Semitic form shown in the Table, finds a very close parallel, common to both the Minoan
linear Script A and B. It seems quite possible, moreover, that the actual prototype
of this is to be recognized in the ' storehouse' sign of the Cretan hieroglyphic system:
indeed, before this was known an identical pictorial origin was suggested by my
father. Daleth, the 'door', is also common to the Minoan signaries, but in this case